Information Management

As businesses have evolved, the need for both fast access to quality intelligence and autonomy at the business unit level have made it imperative and challenging to manage information assets more effectively, efficiently and wisely. Developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy for how information about suppliers, customers, competitors and global markets is obtained, validated, stored, managed, accessed, analyzed and distributed is now central to organizational survival and profitability.

To make the most of opportunities, organizations must maximize the business value of information and leverage investments made in all data management technologies. The rewards will go beyond survival to agility, adaptability, innovation, and in the end, competitive advantage.

The challenges

In today's paradigm there are inherent challenges associated with managing information.

Information has limited shelf life. As organizations move toward understanding and managing data assets and begin the evolution of creating highly usable information, it becomes obvious that information has a limited shelf life. Left unmanaged, information decays, content loses its context, meaning is lost as metadata remains unenforced, and unstructured data cannot be located.
Data and information are managed in silos. Data is characterized and stored differently, and there are different standards for various types. Different instrumentations and integration methodologies are used based on type and utility. Disparate metadata is applied.
Digital data is doubling at an unprecedented rate. The escalated demand for information and the exponential growth in data volumes is challenged by the increase in types and complexity of disparate data that need to be managed – structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Falling storage costs compound the issue by continuing to drive the appetite for higher data volumes and data stores.
Everyone needs information. The increase in knowledge workers throughout organizations means that more people are seeking access to more data than ever before. The need to present data in intelligible forms to workers lacking specialized data extraction skills has never been greater.

This confluence of challenges requires that enterprise information be managed as a strategic asset – from the way it is acquired, created and maintained to how it is integrated, stored, accessed and distributed.

Seizing opportunities with effective information management

Information management is not a product, but rather a strategy or approach for organizations to leverage information as a compelling asset, regardless of type or source. It can be defined as the integration of unstructured and semi-structured data into the established discipline of business intelligence, and the extraction and analysis of structured data to maximize the business value of information while leveraging investments made in content and other unstructured data management technologies.

The time has come for organizations to adapt their information management strategy so they can be more efficient, differentiate themselves from the competition, mitigate risk and comply with the continued onslaught of regulations. Strategic information management requires:

Recognition of enterprise information as a strategic manufactured asset that needs to be managed as such.
Process definition and governance for design and modeling.
Retention and disposition of records and data; and prevention of deterioration and loss of data and data models.
Contextual integration of all data regardless of type (structured, semi-structured or unstructured), source (internal or external) and location.

How SAS can help

Many organizations are still focused almost exclusively on trying to improve the management of their structured data. But wherever you are in your journey to derive maximum value from information, you need a comprehensive, integrated technology platform with which you can reliably integrate, analyze and deploy information throughout your organization. You need a coherent strategy driven by cross-functional teams. And, you need a plan for evolving the use of your organization's most strategic asset.

SAS provides a strategic, proven approach that can help organizations realize many of their information management objectives – one that helps position organizations for long-term success and transforms CIOs into business innovation leaders. SAS goes beyond the standard definitions of technology that can be applied to information management and brings an analytical perspective to the processes required to address the complete life cycle of information.

Enterprise Intelligence Platform

SAS delivers broad and deep capabilities for organizations to apply to their information management programs. Our Enterprise Intelligence Platform, data models, methodologies, services and partnerships enable organizations to reduce the risks, complexities and burdens often associated with managing and effectively utilizing information. Based on more than 30 years of experience solving complex problems, SAS provides proven methodologies to help organizations create a more agile infrastructure that drives business transformation.

Business Intelligence Competency Centers

Increasingly, organizations realize that there is more to BI than simply employing technology. There is a need for a comprehensive, strategic approach to BI, addressing technology as well as people, processes and organizational culture. A Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC) is a cross-functional team with a permanent, formal organizational structure. It is owned and staffed by the client and has defined tasks, roles, responsibilities and processes for supporting and promoting the effective use of business intelligence across the organization.

A BICC provides a central location for driving and supporting your organization's overall business intelligence strategy. It enables your organization to coordinate and complement existing efforts, while reducing redundancy and increasing effectiveness. The centralization of these efforts ensures that information and best practices are communicated and shared through the entire organization so that everyone can benefit from successes and lessons learned.

Information Evolution Model

As organizations use information to set strategies and accomplish business objectives, not many CEOs and CIOs say they are satisfied that their companies get maximum value from information. Fewer still have a systematic plan for evolving their information capabilities to the next level.

As the leader in business intelligence, SAS has developed an Information Evolution Model to aid companies in assessing how they use information to drive business. The model outlines how information is managed and utilized as a corporate asset. It enables organizations to objectively evaluate their use of information and accurately lay out a roadmap for improvements that optimize business returns.

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